Vikings Season 3. Ragnar Lothbrok Lives In Kattegat. Ten Things About This Mysterious Village

Vikings Season 3. Ragnar Lothbrok Lives In Kattegat. Ten Things You Should Know About This Mysterious Village.

1.- In Vikings Season 1, Kattegat was a village near Ragnar’s farm and lands. There, Earl Haraldson resided with Siggy and their surviving daughter, and it was the geographic center of his power.

2.- Considering its location on a fjord in Denmark and its easy access to sea travel, Kattegat is the center of commerce for the area. Thus, farmers as Ragnar and his family and craftsmen as Floki rely on a village like as the primary market by which to sell their goods.

3.- Furthermore, important meetings among the Vikings were held in Kattegat. Especially in the reception hall of Earl Haraldson.

4.- Later in the series, after Earl Haraldson is slain in single combat by Ragnar, the Lothbrok family abandons their farm, and relocates to Kattegat where Ragnar rules as the new earl.

5.- As Ragnar rises in status and becomes king, his profitable and numerous raids bring much wealth to the town. But it also suffer through several battles. Do you remember Jarl Borg’s attack to Kattegat? For sure you remember his spectacular execution!

6.- But does Kattegat exist? Today, the Kattegat is a 30,000 km2 sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Straits islands of Denmark to the south and Sweden in the east.

7.- Kattegat is a rather shallow sea and can be very difficult and dangerous to navigate. In fact, his name means ‘cat gate’ referring to this characteristic.

8.- Since the Kattegat was the only water route into and out of the Baltic region, to control its access has been important throughout the history. Vikings control it but as far as I know, there was not a specific village called Kattegat.

9.- Since the Middle Ages, the Danish royal family (and later the state of Denmark) has prospered greatly from the Sound dues charged for passage through the Sound. The dues was lifted in 1857.

10.- Sadly, the Kattegat was one of the first marine dead zones to be noted in the 70’s, when scientists began studying how intensive industrial activities affected the natural world.

They keep implying that “Kattegat” is in Norway, but that is ridiculous. Ragnar was a Dane. His farm probably became Jelling and this Kattegat was probably really Arhus. Denmark is as flat as a pancake, so I really don’t know what those mountains and magnificent fjords are all about. Love the series though. The real Rollo was born three years after Ragnar died and he was Ragnar’s second cousin thrice removed. Ragnar’s grandson Gumarik was a good friend of his. So much for history on the History Channel! And Ivar, Gumarik’s father, was not crippled. A scribe made an error. He abbreviated Latin “exosus”, which means “pitiless”, to “exos.”, which unfortunately means “boneless” in Latin. And so a terrible misconception arose.